Winter Wonderland
by moonbeamsanddaydreams
Summary: Tonks is out in the ice and snow. A rather dangrous plac for someone that clumsy. Naturally, Remus is a little worried.


Just a little Tonks/Remus oneshot.

I cannot claim anything in Harry Potter. It all belongs to Jo

"She's been out there for hours…"

Remus Lupin was sitting by the blackened window in the kitchen of number 12 Grimmauld Place. Through the scum of a decade of buildup he could just make out the silhouette of a person trying to clear a path through the foot and a half of snow that had fallen the night before.

"What are you talking about?" said a tired looking man with long, matted black hair. Sirius Black walked past his friend, yawning. He grabbed a loaf of bread off the counter. He was toasting it lightly with a small flame from his wand as he looked out the window and said, "Hey, look, it snowed last night."

"Thanks, Padfoot, but I noticed. Aw, Merlin!" Remus got out of his seat and began pacing the back and forth in the dark kitchen.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked him.

"Tonks fell again." Remus told him without talking his eyes off the floor.

"What are you _talking_ about?" Sirius asked for the third time, looking around. "Tonks isn't here."

"No, she's out there." Remus said, pausing his pacing for a moment to glance out the window, "She's been out there all morning trying to clear out the snow"

"So?" said Sirius, buttering his toast and walking over towards the window.

Remus walked back over to the window, "I don't know where she found a shovel, but she's doing it the muggle way"

"What? Why?"

"I have _no idea!"_ Remus met his friend's eyes and Sirius took a step back.

"Wow, you look crazy, Moony."

"Ha ha, must feel like looking in a mirror then."

"That was a low blow."

"Yeah, I know, sorry." Remus looked down at his feet, glanced out the window again, sighed, and resumed his pacing. "She keeps slipping on the ice."

"Oh, yup, there she goes, she slipped." Sirius said, still squinting out the window. Remus ran up beside him and groaned, frustrated. The figure they had been watching was temporarily out of sight, but then she popped up from behind a snow bank, rubbing her back. Remus groaned again.

"What are you still doing here?" Sirius asked him, "You could go help her."

"I can't, I'm too frustrated right now, and she'll get mad." He said matter-of–factly. Sirius eyed him oddly and Remus launched into an explanation. Remus said that he always accidentally calls her by her first name when he's frustrated with her. This inevitably triggers the 'Tonks vs. Nymphadora' debate that they've had many times before. She usually ends up storming away, scowling angrily. "And I really don't want her to try storming away with all the ice out there, she'll slip again."

"….So…" Sirius said after a moment, "You don't just look it. You actually are crazy."

Remus gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed his robes off the back of a chair. He glanced once more out the window before heading into the hallway. Sirius heard the front door open and close. He could now see two figures through the dirty glass of the kitchen window. He rolled his eyes and resumed eating his toast.

Outside, Remus braced himself against the cold. His robes were far too thin to completely block out the wind. As he approached the woman he had been watching through the window he kept reminding himself not to call her Nymphadora. No matter how lovely he thought the name sounded, he mustn't call her Nymphadora. It is a beautiful name though, Nymphadora. Nymphadora. "Nymphadora."

The woman looked up, already scowling. "I've told you a thousand times, don't call me that."

"uh…" He hadn't realized he had actually said anything. "uh… Tonks. What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I'm clearing off the snow, aren't I? All this snow and ice is dangerous to land a broom on." Tonks stated

"Yea, but…err…" Remus mumbled. He was trying to ask her why she didn't just clear it off with magic but, as always, he couldn't get his head unscrambled when she looked at him. Instead he just held up his wand and nodded his head towards it.

"Ha, yeah. Well I tried scorgify, but that just sprayed water everywhere, so now there's ice coating everything, and I don't do to well with ice." Tonks said. And as if by example, her legs flew out from under her and she landed hard on the pavement. Remus ran over to her side. Tonks used his outstretched arm to help hoist herself up as she was blushing furiously, her blue hair turning red at the roots.

"Please come inside, you are making me very anxious." Remus winced, he hadn't meant to say that last bit out loud.

"But the… I should…" Tonks said, glancing behind her at the snow and ice that had just taken her down.

"I'll get it." Remus said, as they approached the door. He opened up the front door and Tonks scurried inside. Before he shut the door, Remus flicked his wand wordlessly and the snow jumped aside, leaving the path leading up to number 12 Grimmauld Place clear.

"Wow…" Tonks said, looking up at Remus, "nice wand work."

"Ew, really? In public Moony?" Sirius was leaning casually against the door frame leading into the kitchen, grinning at them. "At least wait 'till you get her up to your room before you whip out your wand."

Remus laughed nervously and saw Tonks roll her eyes. Following her lead, he glared at Sirius. He heard Tonks clear her throat. When Remus looked back at her he was startled to find her dark eyes looking directly into his.

He felt her cold hand reach around and grab the place where the top of his neck and the bottom of his head met. He felt a slight pressure from that place as she pulled it towards her. Remus was too preoccupied with what Tonks has doing with her right hand that he didn't notice her lips coming at him until it was too late. His eyes snapped shut as he felt an odd warmth spread through his body. His own lips disregarded the command to stop as they chased after her warm breath. After a long moment, they pulled away at the same time. He blinked his eyes open.

"Thanks." Tonks said, smiling, and she trotted down the hall and up the stairs.

"Uhh…umm…what was?" Remus stuttered. He tore his eyes away from Tonks' exiting backside and looked towards Sirius, his eyes full of questions.

"Oh, come on," Sirius rolled his eyes, "It's not like you didn't see that coming"


End file.
